Baruch Marzel: PM Doesn't Care What Bennett Says About Releases

Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett can rail all he wants against upcoming releases of terrorists from Israeli prisons, and even threaten to pull his party out of the coalition if terrorists are freed, said right-wing activist Baruch Marzel; but Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu won't care.

Israel agreed to release about 100 terrorists last summer, as a “concession” to persuade Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas to resume peace talks after a three-year hiatus. The last batch was set to be released Saturday night, but Netanyahu, apparently under pressure from his ministers, has postponed the release. On Saturday, the PA claimed that Israel had offered to release 400 terrorists from its prisons so that peace talks continue.

“As soon as Shabbat ended I started receiving hundreds of calls about the reported deal of releasing 400 prisoners in exchange for continued negotiations,” Bennett wrote. “Let me be clear: That will not happen."

“Netanyahu considers Bennett very unimportant,” said Marzel. “Netanyahu knows who he is dealing with – the religious Zionists who will do anything to keep their ministerial seats. The deal is completely up to Abbas – if he wants it, it will happen, and Netanyahu will get Bennett on board. The Jewish Home MKs will scream and yell, but things will continue to go downhill as they have been doing,” added Marzel.

Marzel, who lives in Hevron, is known for a fearless confrontational style in dealing with hostile Arabs. Marzel has run for the Knesset several times, and was the parliamentary aide for MK Michael Ben-Ari in the last Knesset.